Making a
decision to switch from iPhone to Android can be a tough one- Apple iPhone are
difficult to let go, but switching from iPhone to Androids it’s actually not as
difficult as it may seem. You have made the decision anyways. There are lots information
on your iPhone that you would love to have them on your new Android phone,
well, Apple is unwilling to assist but trust me there are others who are will
to help.Nowadays
people are heading out of the iClouds for reasons best known to them, so are
other people who are willing to support this switch process for the fun of it.
Gathering momentum
Create a Google account before ordering your new mobile phone.
First things
first, before your new phone arrives make sure you have a google account. Google
account is android phones as iTunes and iCloud are to Apple phones. If you have
an existing Gmail account then you are good to go, but if not, get one here. You
should also enable 2-step verification. Google account can hold personal
information such as contacts, calendars, chrome passwords, and so add some more
protection for your own good.
This may be
a hard one to take but you are going to have to turn off iMessage. If your
contacts send you iMessage instead of SMS, you will lose the message if you don’t
have an iPhone to receive the message. Turning off iMessages tell Apple to stop
sending them (iMessages). Moreover you don’t want your friends, colleagues and
family to think you are ignoring them.
One
more thing, sign in for Dropbox if you don’t own one, there are a number of
cross platform that use Dropbox instead of google drive as sync engine.
Using Google Drive.
Your
iCloud Drive will be useless the moment you turn off your iPhone, Google Drive
can actually help with the transition process. Not only will it be useful in
storing and transferring documents, but while we were preparing this guide,
Google unveiled a simple backup system right inside its Google Drive iOS app.
It
won't bring over everything but (and we still recommend you follow the
steps in this guide to have a seamless Switch) But if you are satisfied with
moving contacts, calendar, and photos then give it a try.
To get started, download the Google
Drive app on your iOS device and head into the Settings (inside the hamburger
menu button). Select Backups and you’ll be taken to a screen where you can
choose whether you want to save your contacts, calendar events or photos. Tap
Start Backup and it’ll begin running, though you’ll need to keep your phone on
and the app open, so it’s best to do it overnight with your phone plugged in.
The Google Drive method works well,
but it’s an all-or-nothing situation, so if you don’t want every single
calendar entry and contact coming over to your new phone, you’ll need to trim
them down in their respective apps first. And as we describe below, you’ll
still want to change the defaults on your old iPhone to keep everything up to
date. But it will get some of the data onto your new phone quickly so you can
start using it.
Pixel power
If your new
phone happens to be a Pixel or Pixel XL, moving in is easier than it is with
any other phone. That’s because of Google’s included Quick Switch Adapter, a
simple, speedy method for pulling your data over to your new phone.
During the setup of your Pixel,
you’ll be given an option to copy your data from your iPhone. Dig through your
Pixel box to find the tiny USB-C adapter, attach your Lightening cable to it,
and plug the appropriate ends into each phone. Then, after you log into your
Google account, the Pixel will search your iPhone for any contacts, calendar
events, photos, videos, non-DRM-protected music, texts, and even iMessages, and
bring them all safely over to their new home. (One thing though: If you use an
iTunes backup instead of iCloud, Google recommends that it is an unencrypted
one. To check, open iTunes on your computer, plug in your iPhone, go to the
Summary tab, and make sure the Encrypt iTunes
Backup option is
unchecked. If it was turned on, you’ll need to run it again.)
It’s all pretty magical, and the process is much easier than Apple’s Move to iOS app. And it’ll save you a whole lot of time by skipping most of the steps you’ll need to take with just about every other phone.
Calendar
When you open your calendar app for
the first time on your Android device and sign into your new Google account,
it’s probably going to be empty. But moving all your appointments from your
Apple calendar to your Google one is easier than you think.
You can export your calendar entries with icloud
If you have a Mac, the first thing
you’ll need to do is open the Calendar app on your computer. Select the
calendar you want to export, head to the File menu, and click Export to create an ICS file. (Report if you have more than onee calendar to copy). If you are using a PC, however, you'll need to go through a few small circles.First log in to iCloud.com and open the calendar app. Select the calendar you want to share and click the broadcast icon to the right. In the accompanying dialogue box, select public calendar and copy the address that shows up. (The address will be too long to view, you'll have to click the email link below and copy everything) Paste the entire link into a new tab, change
“webcal” at the front to “http”, and press enter. That will download the ICS
file you need. Finally, go back to your iCloud Calendar and uncheck Public
Calendar, then repeat the process for any other calendars to want to copy over.
find the ICS file you saved
Then log in to your Google calendar on the web and import the file you downloaded by clicking on the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen. Go down to Settings, click Calendars and find the Import calendar button. Then all you need to do is find the file you exported and your iPhone’s dates will show up on your Android phone. Just don’t forget that you’ll need to do this for each of the calendars you’ve exported (Home, Work, Birthdays, etc.).
When all that’s done, the last thing you need
to do is change the default calendar account on your Apple devices (including
your old iPhone) from iCloud to Google. On iOS, you can switch it in the
Calendars tab inside the Settings app, while on OS X you’ll find it inside the
app’s preferences. From there, you can simply log in to your Google account and your events will forever remain perfectly
in sync.
Contacts
Now that you’ve got your
appointments in order, you’re going to need some people to communicate with.
And since you’re already an expert in importing calendar files, you’ll just
need to do the same with your contacts.
Select all the contact you want to move before you go
Once again, you’re going to start
with your computer, but things are a little different. On your Mac, jump into
the Contacts app, and do a select-all so you make sure to grab all the names in
your address book (or go through and select the ones you want). Then navigate
over to File > Export, and select Export vCard.
Check to make sure the file says something like “Amy Andrews and 200 others,”
choose where you want it to go, and hit the save button.
It’s just as easy on your PC.
Go back to iCloud.com and this time select the Contacts app. Select all of your
contacts, click the gear icon at the bottom left of the screen, and find the Export Vcard option.
Before you import your contacts Google will send it back to old version, don't panic!⦽
Then go back to your Google account
on the web, but this time you’re going to open Contacts (it’s in the second batch
of icons). Click on the More option under your account icon on the
left, scroll down to the Import button, and select CSV or vCard file. However, since Google is currently in
the process of redesigning Contacts, you can’t actually complete the import
here. Instead, it will prompt you to go back to the old app where you can click
on the Import
Contacts button at
the bottom of the left-hand column. Once the box opens, choose the vCard file,
and your Google address book will instantly populate with all of the names from
your iOS one.
Mail
If you’re already
using a GMail account as your main email address, you can skip right to the
next section. When you sign in to your new Android phone with your Google
account, all your mail will be there. But setting up your iCloud account isn’t
too much more difficult. And even though you won’t see an option for iCloud
when you go to add a new account, you can still use the GMail app to manage
your Apple mail.
To get started, open the Gmail app
on your new phone, go to Settings (at the bottom of the sidebar), and tap Add account. On the Set up email screen, select Other, and follow the prompts to enter your iCloud email
address and password. (If you have 2-step or 2-factor authentication enabled
for your iCloud account, you’ll need to create an app-specific password first
on your Apple ID account page.)
GMail doesn’t include a dedicated iCloud tab, but you can still use to set up your iCloud account
That should be enough to get your account up and running, but if you’re still getting error messages, you might need to tweak the server settings. You can find the incoming IMAP and outgoing SMTP server settings on Apple’s website. And if you don’t want to use the GMail app that came with your phone, you can download any number of great ones from the Play Store, including Alto, Newton, Outlook, and others that you may be familiar with on iOS.
Messages
Here’s the only real stumbling block with switching between iOS and Android: Your messages don’t play nice between the two operating systems. Even if you’re moving between Android phones the system is less than ideal, mostly relying on third-party solutions that may or may not work.
turn of imessage.
As we already discussed, Google offers an excellent solution baked into the Pixel, and Samsung offers something similar with its Smart Switch app, but otherwise there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to bring your messages over. The most popular tool is iSMS2droid, but it relies on making an unencrypted iTunes backup, digging into your drive to find the SMS database file, and renaming it and converting it. Not exactly the easiest of solutions.
So, unless you use WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or some other over-the-top service, your iMessages will likely be forever locked on your old iPhone. But a clean slate might be for the best anyway since you’re going to be a green bubble from here on out. Because you’ve already turned off iMessage, right?
Photos
Now that the important information is all ported over, it's time to get into the fun part. We know you're going to be using our new phone to take photos and videos, but all the ones you took with your old iPhone can come along too. And you won't need to attach any cables to transfer them.
Your Android photo library will look just practically the same as the one on your old iPhone
All you need to do is download and run Google
Photos on your old iPhone. Really, that’s it. Once you log in to your Google
account, the app will do all the heavy lifting for you, scanning the entire
contents of your photo library and dutifully copying everything that’s inside
(including any photos and videos that reside on your iCloud Drive). And that’s
not even the best part. Google Photos won’t even count the space it uses against
your Google Drive storage limit, so long as you opt to store High Quality shots
rather than full-size ones. If you used the Google Drive transfer process from
earlier in this article, Google already put all your photos and videos in
Google Photos, so you're all set.
It might take a few
hours for larger libraries to upload, but once it’s finished, you’ll never be
more than a tap away from a lifetime of memories. So whether it’s your next
Android phone, a new iPad, or the web, you need only sign in to the Google
Photos app to access every picture and screenshot you’ve ever taken, no matter
how or where they were shot.
Music
just like your photos, getting the tunes from your old iPhone onto your Android phone is quick and easy, if you subscribe to a streaming service, it won't take any time at all- just download your app of choice, sign in and start rocking out. And if you're using a service that supports uploads( including Apple Music), your entire library will be at your disposal
But even if you have a ton of ripped tracks on an
external drive, Google has you covered. You don’t have to be a subscriber to Google Play Music to take advantage of its best feature—storing up to 50,000 of your own
tracks. And it won’t cost you a dime. Just log into Google Play Music web app, go to the menu in the upper left, and select upload Music.your entire collection will be ready to stream a few minutes( or hours depending,on the size)on any and all your devices.
Anything else
For the rest of the apps
you use on your phone, you’ll need to hit up the Play Store to find
replacements or Android counterparts. All the major apps are represented, of
course—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.—and you’ll need only sign in to your
account to pick up where you left off. And of course, if your favorite game
uses Facebook or some other cloud platform to sync, your progress will be
restored once you log in (so don’t freak out, Candy Crush addicts).
Once you meld Safari with Chrome, all of your bookmarks will be available on your new phone.
If you were already using Chrome on your old iPhone, your bookmarks, open tabs, and search history will all be synced to your new device, along with any passwords you’ve stored as soon as you sign in. And if you were using one of the main password managers (1Password, LastPass, or Dashlane), you’ll be able to grab a copy in the Play Store.
To get your Safari bookmarks into Chrome on your new phone, you’ll need to download the iCloud app for Windows. Once it’s all set up and you’re signed in, click the Options button next to Boomarks and select Chrome. Press Apply, and select Merge in the pop-up dialogue box. (If prompted, allow Chrome to install the iCloud Bookmarks extension.) Once it’s done, all of your Safari bookmarks will appear in Chrome’s bookmark’s tab on your Android phone (and everywhere else).
You can do that right in Chrome on a Mac. Launch
Chrome, open the menu at the top right, and click Bookmarks. Select Import bookmarks and settings, choose Safari, and press import.
And that should be it. Other than a stray document or file that you can just toss in your Google Drive, your new phone will be all ready to go. And we don’t think you’ll miss it all.
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